Charley Walters: Craig Leipold says Wild have 'been built right'

Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leopold, shown with fans in 2011, said Tuesday that the team "to a large degree is the personality of Mike Yeo." (Pioneer Press file photo: Chris Polydoroff)

Wild owner Craig Leipold said Tuesday that he feels good about the way general manager Chuck Fletcher has built the team and the way Mike Yeo has coached it.

"This team has been built right," said Leipold, who bought the Wild six years ago from Bob Naegele Jr. "This is a moment in time when we feel good about what Chuck has accomplished, putting the team together."

Fletcher is approaching his sixth-year anniversary as GM of the Wild and is signed to continue. Yeo was hired by Fletcher four years ago, and after spending his first year in the organization as coach of the Houston Aeros, is in his third season as the Wild's coach.

Yeo's contract is up, and Leipold is well-pleased with his coach.

"This team to a large degree is the personality of Mike Yeo," Leipold said.

Yeo, at 40, is the NHL's youngest coach.

"But really experienced," Leipold said. "He's been at all different levels of coaching. He may be the youngest coach, but he's not the most inexperienced, that's for sure."

Fletcher and Yeo have made the Wild what Leipold said he was "hoping we could be" at this juncture when he bought the team.

"This is a team that can win any game -- there's nobody in the league that we can't beat," Leipold said. "We play hard every night, we play as a team, it's well coached, and you certainly can see where we're going with all our young guys.

"They have tremendous heart. They don't get down.

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This team believes they can win, they want to win, they feel really good about what they have accomplished and what they can still accomplish.

"The playoffs have really shown us what our future looks like."

The Wild's Erik Haula, 23, who has opened eyes during the playoffs with his feistiness and breakaway speed, came to Minnesota from Pori, Finland, as a 17-year-old intent on playing college hockey. Shattuck-St. Mary's in Faribault had been recommended as a prep school.

"Because of the coaching and the reputation, and I still had two years left of high school," Haula said. "It was all about trying to find a good place."

Haula said Tom Ward, who oversees the hockey program at Shattuck-St. Mary's, "definitely is one of the better coaches I've had."

At Shattuck-St. Mary's in 2008-09, Haula had 84 points in 53 games. The Wild subsequently picked him as the 182nd player (seventh round) in the 2009 NHL draft. Before leading the Gophers in scoring with 51 points in 37 games in 2012-13, he had 72 points in 56 games for Omaha in the U.S. Hockey League.

Haula, a center, has starred in front of capacity crowds of more than 19,000 in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

"It's awesome to be a part of the overall experience and help the team win," he said. "I'm trying to have fun and enjoy every little bit of it. It's obviously a big deal."

The same for Wild forward Nino Neiderreiter, 21, from Switzerland.

"It's a dream come true," he said. "Since you're little, you dream about playing in games like this in the best league there is and in the most fun time to play."

The Wild had a normal 10:30 a.m. practice Tuesday, then waited for an 8 p.m. start against the Blackhawks.

"The later starts are tough because we just want to get going," Yeo said. "You probably hang out at the rink a half-hour later and come back a half-hour earlier. Just a little more down time, that's all."

Indications are that the NCAA runner-up Gophers men's hockey team won't lose any returning players to pro contracts. Sophomores Adam Wilcox and Kyle Rau, whose NHL rights are owned by the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers, respectively, are finishing business school final exams with plans to study abroad in Ireland for a month this summer.

Sophomore Mike Reilly, whose rights belong to the Columbus Blue Jackets and like Wilcox and Rau would also receive a maximum bonus of nearly $280,000 to sign this year, can become a free agent after next season if he returns for a junior year at Minnesota.

It didn't take long for the Vikings' top pick in last week's NFL draft, linebacker Anthony Barr, to land an endorsement deal. Barr, who loves vegetables, will promote Subway products in commercials.

Gophers football coach Jerry Kill makes the ceremonial first pitch at Thursday afternoon's Twins-Red Sox game on behalf of the Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota, then late in the afternoon is commencement speaker at the University of Minnesota's College of Education-Human Development graduation ceremony.

DON'T PRINT THAT

Vikings general manager Rick Spielman, addressing a large Dunkers club breakfast turnout Tuesday at the Minneapolis Club, said had he the No. 1 pick in last week's NFL draft, he would have taken defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, who was chosen No. 1 by the Houston Texans out of South Carolina. But Spielman said the Vikings are in love with their No. 1 pick, linebacker Anthony Barr of UCLA.

Spielman said of the Vikings' other first-round pick, Teddy Bridgewater, that he had never seen a quarterback drop so far in the draft after a pro-day workout. But Spielman is impressed with virtually everything about Bridgewater, emphasizing his character.

Asked about QB Johnny Manziel, who was drafted by Cleveland, Spielman said his pro day was a major spectacle. The question about Manziel will be how he will handle his celebrity status.

Spielman said that while Manziel is a "very, very" talented quarterback, the Vikings feel Bridgewater is a "very, very, very" talented quarterback.

Spielman, asked if the Vikings playing outdoors the next two seasons at TCF Bank Stadium influenced player selection in the draft, said absolutely not.

Spielman was a guest of Wild GM Chuck Fletcher at Tuesday night's playoff game against the Blackhawks.

OVERHEARD

Wild coach Mike Yeo on his team's comeback play in the playoffs: "Our survival instincts have been much stronger than our killer instincts."